L'appel du vide

Chapter 1

The ball bounced back up to meet his hand, her eyes followed his movements, when his feet moved, hers did as well, it could've been described as a dance by some; but her thighs burned too much to call it that, so she just called it defense, it's what she was good at, and she loved doing it. She slid in front of him to block his drive, Damien meeting her in the middle to trap him, their feet barely met, just like they'd been taught for years, it was ingrained in their memory, a part of them. He fumbled the ball. He grabbed it again before attempting to shoot, Damiens long arm snatching it out of the air, he turns and shoots, and she heads for the rebound, blocking out on her man. She hears the heavy door slam shut, but looks up to the basket, as she moves to catch the ball , with her legs spread midstep, she feels a hand shove between her shoulder blades, she feels her foot catch between two others. She feels the exact moment her knee slides out of her socket, agony erruptes through her leg, she heard a pop, and that's when the scream crawls out her throat, she feels Damiens arms catch her right before she collaspes on the court. She pushs herself away from him, begging her body to get up, she pushes so hard, the way her knee looks is wrong. She is not crying yet, but she is close, everyone around her stops, they stare, her teammates move hands over their mouths, everyone on the oppisite team takes a knee, except for one.
She attempts to move her leg from where it folds beneath her other one, she feels another scream crawl out of her mouth, but she clamps it down before it can make itself long, so it instead sounds like a loud short wail. Damien holds her up as she sways backwards, the pain threatening to pull her unconcious, they hear running footsteps from the front of the gym, she looks up to see her coach
"What the hell happened here?!" He looks down at her knee and grimaces,
"Damien, pick her up, no! Not like that, grab under her good knee, I'll get her arms, you have your car?" Damien nodds as he moves to Morrigns side,
"Morgan, hun, this is going to hurt alot alright, so I want you to take a deep breath"
Morrigan nodds, takes a deep breath, she feels Damiens hot hands, and then Coaches arms looping around hers, and then she sobbs, loud enough to echo and shake her entire chest. Damien says soothing words to her, but they are lost on pain ridden ears, as they walk by the bleachers she sees a man in a leather jacket, dark hair staining her vision, he looks like he is in pain himself. She makes it to the car before she passes out.

The sound of someone shifting wakes her up, she feels someones hand in her own, it's hot, she opens her eyes slowly to see Damien, before closing them again, the next time she comes to he is gone, she looks around for her phone. Her phone sits on the bland hospital table, her bag's on the floor, as she reachs for her phone she feels herself become light headed, her neck feels sore, she feels fumbly.
When she manages to grab her phone she sees 18 text notifications, it's 2 am, Sunday, she realizes she has lost a day and a half, the last thing she remembers before the hospital was a hand in her back, and then pain, she flinches, almost dropping her phone, after rebalencing it she opens it; 17 of the messages are in her teams group chat, well wishes, apologies, and questions of when they could visit as a team. She ignores them for the moment, she will respond once she knows what is happening, she opens the single text from Damien

"I'm sorry I'm not there whenever you read this, but the losers kicked me out because of some lame shit about visitation hours, see you at 8 am sharp M"

She smiles slightly, just putting her phone down as another text buzzes through, from Damien again,

"And stay off that leg!"

She laughes mildy, before she feels her eyes heavy, she lays her phone down, and lets sleep consume her again.

A shadow pulls her focus, she hadn't been dreaming, or she couldn't remember what she had been dreaming. She sees him sprinting through the the trees, looking around, she realizes that she recognizes none of her surroundings, so she chases the man. He runs as the wind does, winding through the trees, he turns to see his who is behind him, his gaze fading over her, before he focuses in on her. His lips move as if he is close to speaking, before she hears buzzing, he convulses. The buzzing sound does not cease as she notices a woman stepping from her hiding spot, she had been concealed by the tree. She cannot catch her facial features before she's thrown into another location, her head whips around, searching for the man. She runs forward at the sound of footsteps, she sees the man, strapped to some sort of metal bars, wires connected to him through a bandage, he looks directly at her, as the blonde woman cranks a switch, and he convulses.

She feels someones hand on her arm, her leg is on fire, she feels the stretching of stitches, she must be moving her leg agony clouds her vision, the hand on her arm tightens, and the pain moves to her arm, before disapearing completly. It is that moment of bliss when the medicine sets in for cramping, feeling your muscles relax just enough for the pain to leave, she stops thrashing, and opens her eyes just enough to see bright blue eyes above her, she hears Damiens voice shouting, before the hand leaves her arm, there is approximatly two seconds of painless bliss before she screams,and the agony returns. She closes her eyes just as she sees the man leave he room, he throws a last look over his shoulder, his face grimacing as if he is in pain. Nurses rush in, and they give her something that numb part of the the pain ingulfing her leg, but unlike before the drugs barely reached the pain, hardly caressing it and soothing it, she remembered the hand on her arm, and missed it.

Damien soothes her hair as she breathes, the nurses inspect her leg, warning her not to move just yet, and leave he room. Damien stares at her, as she focuses her gaze on the blankets, clenching and unclenching them tightly in her deft hands. Damien removes his hands from her hair

"M, you never told me the nightmares came back"
She finally gazes up to meet his bright eyes
"They just now came back"
He stares at her for a few seconds, before nodding.
These nightmares had plagued her for most of her life, they came and went, but one thing was always constant, the boy had always been in them, dark hair, olive skin, his eyes had changed, maybe that is why it took so long for her to recognize him once he began appear outside of her dreams, not to mention the age gap in the two versions. His golden eyes had changed into a bright piercing blue, his black hair had grown out, more tamed than his youthful self, facial hair replaced what used to be the smooth jawline of a prebubescent teen.
Damiens voice pulls her from her reverie
"Who was that man M?" She simply shakes her head
"Hell if I fuckin know, I was asleep until I woke up in agonizing pain" he grimaces, holding her hand. The doctor walkes in, she has kind eyes, and is folloeed by another woman, much smaller and grumpier
"Hello Ms. M-m-Morrigan, i give up on your last name dear" the grumpier woman takes the file folder from her hands
"Really nessa? MacGilleFhialain, is not that hard to say" the doctor stares at the woman, and then smiles at her, before looking back to Morrigan, she pulls up a chair to the foot of her bed,
"Now, Morrigan, when you injured you leg, you dislocated your knee cap, and as i'm sure you've guessed, this is not uncommon among basketball players, but you also tore clean through you ACL and MCL."
Morrigan squeezes her eyes shut, a minor ACL tear could take monthes to heal, she would miss her entire pre-season if not her entire senior season.
Damien takes her hand
"I'm sorry hunny. But there is more, the way you fell, when everything else happened, it caused stress on your femur bone, and it snapped, most likely due to the fact that you already had weak tendons and muscles in that leg, and it simply gave up under the stress, but when the bone broke, it punctured the artery in your leg, if your coach hadn't brought you here as quick as he did, you could've died"
Morrigan does not cry, she simply retreats into herself. She is going to miss her entire Senior season.
The grumpy woman steps in,
"Because of the puncture you were rushed into surgery, luckily, we got it under control before it seriously damaged your leg, now, we managed to stitch up most of the damage, however, with everything put together, you are looking at at least 6 monthes recovery, 3 of which you will most likely be wheel chair bound, of course that may change depending on how you heal. I know you want to get back to the game, but the fastest way to get better is too stay off your leg until you start physical therapy, and even then, only do what you are told to do, we managed to set that bone, you damn near rebroke it with that episode you just had, but doing anything you are not supposed to do could cause it to rebreak. Do you understand?" She nods,
"Alright, well, you will have to stay 2 more days to make sure the artery is healing nicely, but we will give you sedatives to take when you sleep so you don't hurt yourself further"